Author: Harry Helmsman

Lincoln Town Car Is Black In The Snow In China

A beautiful black Lincoln Town Car, seen on a snowy day in front of a Buick dealer in China. The big Lincoln had some trouble down at the rear axle but looked otherwise okay. The blue 京A·U0448 license plate is as old as the car, and indicates this Lincoln was one of the very first privately registered cars in Beijing.

The second generation Lincoln Town Car was made from 1990 until 1997, and some were officially sold in China by General Motors. Power came from a 4.6 liter V8 engine with an output of 210 hp. The motor was mated to a 4-speed automatic, sending horses to the rear wheels. This generation Town Car was also the basis for the Hongqi CA7460 series.

Cadillac Sedan de Ville And Yunbao YB6470 Wagon In China

Here we have a slightly modified sixth-generation Cadillac Sedan de Ville, seen in a residential compound somewhere in east Beijing in 2010. The Caddy was fitted with a set of ultra bling alloys, wide tires, and a fake 京A·00006 license plate.

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Brilliance Coupe Up Village In China

Brilliance Coupe

A mildly modified Brilliance Coupe, seen in a village up in the mountains to the north of Beijing. The car stood parked in front of a restaurant. It was made pretty with an extra body kit, a red grille, orange window frames, two fat exhaust pipes, and a set of racy alloys.

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Beer! No. 2

Yanjing beer China

More beer! A Beijing-branded tricycle carrying empty bottles of Yanjing beer, standing in front of a neighborhood beer distribution point.  The blue crates behind the trike are filled with new bottles of delicious Yanjing beer. The green crates are for Tsingtao beer but they too are filled with Yanjing bottles.

I saw this tricycle in the hutongs of central Beijing when Yanjing beer bottles still contained 0.645 liter of easy drinkable beer with an alcohol percentage of 3.6%. In my good old days I drunk a truck of the stuff each week. Sadly, most Chinese beer makers have since changed their bottle size to the internationally more acceptable 0.5 liter.

Back then many people in China still preferred to drink their beer at room-temperature instead of cooled. So at distribution points beer was mostly kept uncooled and out in the open. Cheers!

A Black Maybach 57 In Beijing

A fantastic Maybach 57, seen in Beijing in 2011 on a side road of the Fourth Ring Road. The long-wheelbase Maybach 62 limousine is not uncommon in China but the shorter 57 is quite rare. Whenever I see a Maybach from those days I am always surprised by how huge they actually are. Even the 57 is 5.7 meters long, 1.98meters wide and 1.5 meters tall.

The car that I met was painted in black over dark gray. At first I thought the sporty alloys where after-market but they were actually standard in China on the 2009 and 2010 model years. Power came from the mighty 6.0 twin-turbo motor, good for  640 hp and 1000 Nm. Price in 2009 started at 5.38 million yuan. The Maybach 62 started at more than double that; 12.98 million in the same year. That made the 57 look like a great deal!

In anyway, the Maybach name is still very popular. China is the largest market worldwide for the new common Benz-based Maybach line.

FAW Besturn B70 is Carbon Fiber And Matte Black In China

A very stealthy FAW Besturn B70 sedan, seen in 2013 on a bicycle lane in my very own street in Beijing. The fine vehicle is wrapped in a very interesting carbon-fiber matte black, as if the whole body is made of carbon-fiber. The area under the bumper is made black but the alloys are standard.

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Mitsubishi Montero Is An Endurance-Rally Car In China

Mitsubishi Montero

A Mitsubishi Montero SUV, seen on a compound parking lot in north east Beijing in 2013. The Montero was totally dressed up for heavy all-terrain work, with a winch, heightened suspension, fog lights, bonnet air ducts, and a snorkel.

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Hongqi HQ300 Is A Prettier Toyota In China

Hongqi HQ300
Hongqi HQ300

A beautiful black Hongqi HQ300 sedan, seen in the Dongzhimen area in Beijing in 2013. The good old Red Flag was is superb shape, with smooth paint and shiny chrome, completely original, nothing missing or broken, and not a spat of rust in sight. Note the factory standard red-flag hood ornament.

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